Fever
by Deuthrus
Summary: Souji falls sick and Yosuke freaks out, deciding that he must do the honors of taking care of his partner until he's better.
1. Kashiwagi is a pretty sucky teacher

Yosuke decided that today he didn't want to be the Rolling Student, the one stuck in a trash an thrashing about as passerbys either completely ignored or laughed at. No, for he was Yosuke Hanamura of the Magician Arcana and he was going to get to school on time if it was the last thing he did!

He was pedaling away on his bike as fast as his legs would allow, and once he flew past that accursed blue trash can he turned his head and stuck his tongue out at it. Just as he began to look forward again, he heard a loud crack from underneath him, and out of shock, he immediately hit the brakes. Slowing to a stop, Yosuke looked over his shoulder to see his homeroom teacher, Ms. Kashiwagi, standing on one foot and cradling the other.

Oh crap.

After a careful thinking process of what he should do in the situation and what the worst outcome might be, he decided to swing his leg off the bike and walk to the school, whistling like nothing happened. Yeah, really subtle there. Of course Kashiwagi would not have that. A few steps later and Yosuke heard her huff loudly and then scream, "YOU STUCK-UP REBELLIOUS BRAT! HOW DARE YOU SCAR MY BEAUTY!?"

Even though he was scared, Yosuke had to fight back a laugh. Kashiwagi? Beauty? Those two words just didn't go together.

"YOU BETTER APOLOGIZE NOW BEFORE I HAVE YOUR ASS EXPELLED!" She yelled louder, and several students around them began to stare and whisper. Getting expelled for running over a teacher's foot? Great way to start the day!

"S-Sorry?" He tried, sounding more pathetic than anything else.

"You should BE!" Kashiwagi spat, finally letting go of her injured foot and limping towards him. "I never want to see that damn bike ever again! Throw it in the trash! Do you hear me!?"

Yosuke froze. His precious bike!? The only way that he could ever possibly think to make it into the school without being over 5 minutes late? Yosuke just looked at the ground and nodded, not wanting to at all but not wanting to get in trouble either. He knew how his dad would react if he found out, regardless of Yosuke's protests. Adults weren't fair.

"Good," She seemed satisfied at least, "Oh, don't look so miserable. It's not the end of the world. I'm being enormously generous to you. You should make it up for me sometime," Kashiwagi winked and then tried to walk away in her usual, high-strung, hip-swaying manner, but it looked downright ridiculous with her limp.

Yosuke walked with his bike down the little ways to that annoying blue trash can, and hurled his old rusty friend at it. He stared for a minute before sauntering back over to the school, not looking forward to the rest of the day at all.

He was one of the last ones to enter the classroom, but it was better than being dead last like usual. With his arms crossed tightly around himself, he walked to Souji's desk to rant to him about how much of a horrible person Kashiwagi was. But on his way there Yosuke realized that Souji wasn't in his seat. His breath caught in his throat and he instantly began scanning the room frantically for his best friend.

But he wasn't there.

'He's just late,' his happy thoughts told him, 'for the first time ever,' his meanie thoughts added.

"Oh shut up!" He growled, hitting himself on the head. "His alarm clock didn't go off, that's all!" Figuring that he could just wake Souji with a text, he plopped down in his seat, set his bag on his desk, and hurriedly flipped open his phone.

"Did Yosuke just tell himself to 'shut up'?" Yukiko whispered to Chie, who nodded.

"Yeah... he does that sometimes."

'WHER R U!?'  
Was the first text Yosuke sent, hoping the answer would be something along the lines of " I'm on my way".

Yosuke looked up to see Yukiko and Chie giggling and glancing back at him. He gave them a confused look and was about to ask them just what was so funny when he felt his phone buzz in his hand.

'Right behind you :P'  
Yosuke's eyes widened and he shot up straight in his seat, feeling goosebumps run across the skin. He whipped his head around, despite his panic, only to see some random guy he didn't even know the name of sleeping and drooling on his desk. Frowning, Yosuke turned back around in his seat and ignored the girls' laughs in front of him.

'WHAT THE HELL!? WHY YOU LIE? :('  
Yosuke smiled to himself because he knew that the frownie face would get to Souji and make him tell the truth. He got another text just as Kashiwagi strolled into the room with little grace. He hid his phone under the desk and quickly checked it.

'Sick. Can't come today. Sorry.'

'Oh my god...' Yosuke thought, 'It's his first absence ever...'  
But more importantly than that, that meant that he'd have to suffer through SEVEN full hours straight without seeing Souji! Sure he could text between classes and lunch, if his Partner wasn't sleeping, but it wasn't the same! Yosuke groaned miserably. This day sucked so very very much. Kashiwagi gave him the stink eye for making a loud noise.

1st period would've been semi-tolerable, had Kashiwagi not decided to only ask questions to Yosuke. He knew she was still mad about the accident earlier, but geez, people usually just forget those sort of things after a few pain-filled moments. Kashiwagi was one to hold grudges, apparently.

Yosuke didn't know the answer to any of them. How was HE supposed to know what ressentiment mean!? And what the universe's tallest mountain was!? But Kashiwagi picked on him constantly and Yosuke had barely any time to doodle with crayon like on normal days. This was horrible.

When it was finally over, Yosuke gave the biggest, most heaving sigh he had done in his entire life. He felt like he just got out of some torture endurance test in Phys Ed, he was sweating that much. Luckily, the other teachers didn't have some undying hatred for him so the rest of the day went by smoothly, although slowly.

During lunch, Yukiko, Chie, and Rise came up to him while he was sitting alone and asked if he wanted to join them on the rooftop. Yosuke knew that they noticed how completely lost he looked without his precious Souji, and he appreciated that they were worried about him, so he accepted. But talking about girly stuff wasn't all that fun to him, and after the first few minutes they ignored his existence.

Yosuke walked home alone, too. When he first exited Yasogami, there were moments of panic when he realized that since he was so used to Souji walking him home everyday, he completely forgot how to get there himself. But, after a few seconds of serious thought, he planned out a mental map and found his way back home soon enough.


	2. Gay phone call

Opening the door to his room, Yosuke walked in and threw his bright orange bag on the ground carelessly. He flopped onto the futon, on his back, and stared at the ceiling for a few quiet, peaceful minutes. It was suddenly disrupted when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He sighed and pulled it out to look at whatever annoying friend had texted him. It was from Souji. Oh... scratch that annoying bit, then.

'How was school?' It read. And Yosuke couldn't help but smile a little at that. Souji sometimes acted like he was Yosuke's mom. Not that he really minded all that much. He wasn't super close with his parents or anything and having someone really care about him made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

'it... SUCKED!1 it was super boreing & i had to eat with the girls -_- also i got in trouble sorta... hehe"  
Immediately after he sent the text, he flipped his phone shut, and while still gripping it, turned to his side and tried to take a nap, or at least rest his brain or something. Of course then his phone shook in his hand again. Yosuke told himself that he'd check the text later, but then he realized that his phone kept vibrating and vibrating.

Angrily, Yosuke snapped his eyes open and glared at his phone. Souji was calling him. He sat up instantly and pressed the talk button.

"H-hello?!" Yosuke answered quickly, hoping he didn't sound too rushed.

"What did you do?"  
Yosuke froze. He recognized Souji's voice, but it sounded even more quiet than usual, hoarser, and above all much more tired, and Yosuke didn't like it at all.

"Oh, uh, just... y'know," He scratched the back of his neck even though he was all alone in his room, "biked over the teacher's foot is all, heheh."

Yosuke heard a sigh on the other end. "I didn't know you hated her that much."

"It was an accident! Total accident."

"I'm taking it she didn't believe you?"

"Yup. She's a bitch." And Yosuke swore that he could actually feel Souji smile at that.

"And what's the punishment for such an... unjustly act?"

"Oh. Uhh. I had to... scrub the desks," Yosuke lied, not really wanting Souji to worry about him even though he knew he already was. He figured that he'd probably just make up a story about his bike later.

"That was awfully nice of her," Souji started to cough harshly at the end of the sentence, which made Yosuke sit up even more, clutching his cell tighter. Souji took a deep breath and mumbled "Sorry," before adding, "Yeah, staying at home all day wasn't that exciting, either," his voice dropped even quieter, to a barely audible whisper, "I missed you."

Yosuke felt his cheeks burn at that, and he just chuckled softly and tried to play it off all cool. "Well, who wouldn't? Besides, it's only been a day."

"I guess..."

"B-but I mean, uhh, I missed you lots! Too much," Yosuke replied hurriedly after hearing the hurt in Souji's voice. When a few seconds ticked by and Souji still hadn't answered, Yosuke tacked on the sentence, "I want to see you."

Souji's breath hitched on his end and he whispered, "But I'm sick."

"I don't care."

Souji seemed to be contemplating what to do. It took way too long for Yosuke's tastes, so he spoke up again.

"Souji, you're sick and you're all alone and by the way you sound awful and I don't mean that in a bad way, I just mean that it bugs me because I don't know why and I'm just worried about you basically I guess."  
It all came out in one breath.

Yosuke was holding his phone in an iron grip, desperate to hear any sort of sound at all on the other end, he could make out some sort of muffled movements, which sounded like Souji sitting up in bed or something, but still no response. And now Yosuke felt stupid.

"Um, did that sound creepy? I sort of-"

"Yosuke."

"Err, um, y-yes...?"

"I want to see you, too. Please come over here."

Yosuke's face light up. "O-oh, really? Okay, I'll bring some chocolate for you and we can-"

"YOSUKEE!"  
Dear god. Yosuke was sort of wondering when Teddie would make his classic call for him. Yosuke sighed angrily.

"What is it, Teddie? I'm on the phone!"

"Come quick! Hurrrryyyyy!"

Yosuke stood up slowly. He knew Teddie had absolutely nothing of importance to show him or whatever he wanted him for, but it was best to keep the stupid bear amused or who know what'll happen. He mumbled into the phone, "Gotta go. Teddie wants me to take a look at the cool spill he made on the carpet, probably. See ya in a few." And he hung up.

"Coming, Teddie!"


	3. This is really weird

After Yosuke helped Teddie with his stupid dilemma of not having enough bubbles in his bath because the dumb bear was too damn lazy to reach over and get the soap himself, he immediately headed for Dojima's house. At first, Yosuke had went to go get his bicycle, only to find, in sickening disappointment, that it wasn't there anymore.

'Damn that Kashiwagi...' his thoughts growled as he angrily kicked a pebble that went flying across the flood plain.

3 minutes later, Yosuke arrived at his destination. For whatever reason, he suddenly felt nervous and a bit worried. It wasn't because the way Souji sounded on the phone made him uneasy or anything like that, he told himself that over and over as he headed to the front door.

Yosuke let himself inside, Dojima wouldn't be home till late and Nanako had just gotten out of school, but more importantly he didn't want to bother Souji or anything by making him comedown the stairs in agony only to see Yosuke's stupid worried-for-no-reason face.

He walked in and stepped out of his shoes as quietly as he could manage, but he felt like he was stepping on broken glass or something. Yosuke sighed and tried to concentrate on NOT overthinking because it was just making him that much more uncomfortable and he wasn't used to thinking all that much, anyway.

Yosuke looked up, and out of the corner of his eye he spotted Souji, nestled on the living room couch under a blanket. Yosuke's entire gaze suddenly snapped upon him then. What was Souji doing down here? Did he force himself to get out of bed and wait on the couch for Yosuke to arrive? And then he got so incredibly tired and felt so sick that he passed out?

Yosuke bit his tongue angrily as if that'd stop his thoughts from going haywire again. Why was his brain having such a nervous breakdown over this?

And that's when Yosuke found himself with a dilemma. What was he going to do now? Souji was so very-obviously asleep, or at least trying to sleep, so was Yosuke supposed to just go and wake him up? But Souji knew he was coming over so-

'THAT'S IT! I HATE YOU BRAIN SHUT UP!' Yosuke resisted the urge to punch himself on the head like he did earlier that day. He sighed loudly and slowly tip-toed over to the couch, holding his breath. And kneeled down in front of the couch.

Yosuke leaned forward on his heel just a tad, extending his arm out to give Souji a gentle shake, but just before he did so, he just happened to turn his head a little and what was supposed to be a glance at Souji's sleeping face turned into more of a stare.

Souji, for one, looked more vulnerable than Yosuke had ever seen him in his life. His lips were parted slightly so he wasn't wearing his usual straightface mask and he just looked completely sick and innocent, with pale cheeks and red around his eyes. It made Yosuke want to protect him and hold him close always. And that was cheesy but Souji once said the same thing to him, a bit jokingly, but it'd been constantly on Yosuke's mind ever since. He smiled at Souji, a smile that wouldn't be returned. And then...

"Hello Yosuke."

Yosuke's heart leapt into his throat and his eyes widened as he tried to stand still after jumping straight up. The shock still hadn't left his system and he lost his balance and tripped onto the table, yelping, falling backwards painfully.

Rubbing his stinging skull, Yosuke hissed and tried to sit back up. He heard a low chucking coming from the couch area and... wait, what the-...

Yosuke opened his clenched eyes to see Souji propped up on his elbow and smiling at him. Yosuke frowned. The guy was ill and he still had the nerve to make fun of Yosuke? Well, Yosuke figured, Souji still looked sleepy, and exhausted, like he could barely hold himself up, so it's not exactly like Souji had anticipated to scare the hell out of him or anything.

Yosuke decided to just laugh right along with Souji because he knew he didn't mean any harm. He never did.

However, that wasn't enough to stop Yosuke from namecalling.

"Good afternoon asshole," he grumbled as he stood up shakily, his head and back and everything still sore.

"Didn't anybody ever tell you to knock?" Souji replied, still smiling like Yosuke's pain was amusing to him.

"Shut up. Move your legs."  
Yosuke didn't mean for it come out as a demand, but he knew Souji wouldn't take any offence to it. Yosuke wasn't the one to be very polite, anyway. He stepped over the side-turned table and sat on Souji's legs after he wordlessly refused to move them.

"You can't do this to me, I'm sick." Souji said in the most pathetic way possible, moving around to lay on his back so he could look at Yosuke.

"That's gonna be your excuse for everything, isn't it?"

"Yup. So please get off. I can't feel my legs."

Yosuke huffed dramatically, as if Souji was asking him to do the biggest favor in all of the world. Instead of standing up, he turned so his legs were on either side of Souji, and moved up until he was sitting on Souji's waist. He grinned at his partner who glared at him in response.

"That's not what I meant."

"Oh? What did you mean then? You weren't specific enough. If you give out orders that vague in battle, we're all going to get ourselves killed."

Souji opened his mouth to reply but then immediately snapped it shut. He bit his lip.

"Oh, c'mon man, I was just joshin' with ya, you know that." Yosuke thought for a moment. "Wait... 'joshin''? Geez, who says that?"

"I do."  
Souji smiled a little.

"That makes it cool, then."

"I'm not cool."

"Um, dude? Are you blind? Everyone in this town practically hails the ground you walk on."

"Yosuke..." Souji said slowly, about to say something to go against what Yosuke proclaimed, but then he suddenly shifted under Yosuke's weight and announced, "Yosuke, this is uncomfortable."

Yosuke laughed a little and winked, "But there's not enough room on this couch for me, Partner."

"You don't have to be on it, then."

"But I need to take care of my sick little baby," Yosuke cooed, and he lifted himself up a little to tear the blanket off of Souji's body and toss it across the room.

"H-hey, what was that for? I-"

"Enough talky," Yosuke pressed his finger against Souji's lips. "Shh now. Babies can't talk."

Souji calmly grasped Yosuke's finger without looking at it and answered, "I am not a baby. And this isn't how you're supposed to treat one - sick or not."

Yosuke tsk tsk-ed and shook his head as if what Souji just said was blasphemy.

* * *

**And that's all I have for right now... I might write more.**


	4. Souji's logic makes no sense!

** I wrote this at midnight because I had ideas swirling around in my head that would just NOT leave me alone. You guys get to see it before my sister does, actually! :3**

**By the way, I just wanted to mention that I know I tend to write a lot of short paragraphs. They look a LOT longer in a notepad document. I apologize for writing like that because now that I'm looking it over, it just looks weird to me. I'll write in Wordpad next time. Again, sorry.**

* * *

"...Hey, you know what would really suck?" Yosuke asked after a moment. Souji just stared at him innocently, not saying a word.

"Dude, I'm asking you a question, so you can talk now."

"Okay. What would suck?"

"If... like, Nanako-chan walked in on us right now."

Souji appeared to be thinking. "Hm, well, wouldn't it be worse for Dojima to come in? Besides, this's your fault, anyway."

"Oh god," Yosuke breathed, imagining Dojima coming home from a long, hard day of work followed by that idiot derptective Adachi, ready to sit down and have a drink only to see Yosuke literally straddling Souji's hips. Dojima would have this seriously confused look on his face while Adachi would just smile at Souji and Yosuke stupidly, silently urging them to make out or something. Yeesh...

"Yeah. So what's your plan, anyway? How does sitting on me solve anything?"

"I already told you, man. There isn't enough room on this couch, so I chose the next best option." Yosuke smirked and reached over to grab the TV remote, then flipped it on to whatever dumb show was playing.

"Wouldn't the 'next best option' be asking me to make room?" Souji retorted, turning his head towards the television to see some boring lady talk enthusiastically about some equally boring cleaning product. The kind of stuff you put on to help you get to sleep.

Yosuke ignored him, pretending to be incredibly engrossed in the infomercial. Deciding that Yosuke was now a lost cause, Souji wriggled his arm free and grabbed his phone from the floor. He had fallen asleep after his call with Yosuke, but he was a light sleeper and had woken up as soon as his partner rudely burst through the door. Souji saw that he had two unread messages, one from Chie, and the other from Kanji.

_'DUDE yosuke has entered emo mode! i guess he can't even go a few hours without seeing his precious souji-kins. help us'_

After reading Chie's text, Souji glanced up at Yosuke who was also staring at him.

"What'cha doin?"

"Reading texts." For some reason, Yosuke then dropped his jaw like it was the news of the century and snatched Souji's phone away from him, staring at the screen.

"Emo mode!?" He cried, "Um, not true! I was just a little lonely is all, geez."

"Aww," Souji reached his hand out and touched Yosuke's cheek, in an useless attempt to coax him. Yosuke slapped the hand away.

"Shut up." He fumbled with Souji's phone until he found Kanji's text message.

_'WHERE CAN A MAN GET SOME DECENT FOOD AROUND HERE?_' Yosuke immediately deleted that one. Kanji texted the most pointless stuff ever.

"Are you reading the stuff from Ai?" Souji asked suddenly, a bit worriedly, maybe, even. Yosuke cocked an eyebrow.

"How come? ...On second thought, don't think I want to. You better not be sending her nude pics or whatever." Yosuke shut the cell, but instead of giving it back to his partner, he slipped it into his pant pocket.

"I still have my modesty, Yosuke."

"Yeah, 'cause that sorta stuff is reserved for me and me only, right?" Yosuke sounded sarcastic, especially with the added wink, but there was a definite hint of seriousness in it.

Souji rolled his eyes. "You wish." He started to cough after that, it sounded a lot worse in person than over the phone, but Yosuke didn't know what else to do except stare at the TV screen nervously. He almost forgot that Souji was sick. Almost.

"So, uhh, what's wrong, Partner?"

"Nothing's wrong." Souji gave him a confused look, after wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

"Idiot. I meant what kept you from coming to school today?"

Souji gave Yosuke the most pathetic look he could manage and whimpered, "I have a fever."

Yosuke sighed and rested his hand on Souji's forehead, even though he knew Souji wouldn't lie to him.

"Yup, you're definetely sick. You're burning up like a... um, I don't know. Oven, I guess."

"Thank you."

Yosuke ignored him, and instead focused his thoughts on contemplating what to do. He'd never took care of another sick person before, not even Teddie, the bear surprisingly hadn't fallen ill yet. What would Mama-hana do if Yosuke was running a fever?

"Are there, like, any fever pills or something?" Yosuke hated when he sounded lame, which was very often, but Souji, unlike so many others, never called him out for it.

"I took a bath earlier, I'll be fine."

"Do you want a towel with warm water, then?"

"Already did that this morning."

"Uh...do you want something to drink?"

"I've got my melon soda, thanks though."

Yosuke gave a defeated sigh. "Isn't there SOMETHING I can do?"

Souji looked thoughtful. Perhaps devious. "Yes."

And that had Yosuke light up like a bulb, eyeing his partner excitedly. "Uh-huh, yeah, what is it?!"

With a very straight, deadpan expression and calm, unwavering voice, Souji said, "Kiss me."

Yosuke's face dropped. 'What the hell!? What a cheapskate!' He thought, slapping his friend's arm.

"What the? How does that solve ANYTHING!?"

"It would make me feel a thousand times better, Yosuke." Souji looked at him tiredly, he was pushing himself to stay awake and both of them knew it.

**"NO."**

"C'mon. 10 out of 10 doctors recommend it."

"WHAT KIND OF DOCTORS ARE YOU SEEING!?" Souji just shrugged in response.

Crossing his arms, Yosuke angrily shook his head. "No way, nuh-uh."

"Why not? Please?" Oh god, Souji was going to resort to begging. Using his sickness like this was just plain cruel.

Yosuke glared daggers at Souji, but his expression softened after a moment. Souji really did look sick. And helpless. Yosuke groaned as obnoxiously as he could manage, acting as if he was doing Souji some huge favor, and leaned foward. Yosuke gave him the quickest peck to the lips in all of written history, and he pulled away just as fast.

Souji had disappointment written all over his face.

"Oh, what is it?" Yosuke asked.

But instead of giving a verbal answer like any normal person would, Souji's arms launched forward and wrapped around him, forcing Yosuke to press closer, and then Souji kissed him again.

This one lasted longer, it was gentle, unlike Souji's movements just a second ago, and Yosuke would be lying if he said he didn't like it. But then Souji opened his mouth slightly and licked Yosuke's lip, causing Yosuke to bolt upright and push away instantly.

"Dude, STOP IT."

Souji cocked his head and did his annoying innocent face again. "Stop what?"

"Urgh...just... there, I kissed you, happy? But no tongue today and stuff... I mean, not with your germ-mouth."

"Germ-mouth?"

"W-whatever!" Now even Souji was questioning Yosuke's lameness. Just great.

"200,000 germs pass between us each time we kiss. Sick or not."

"I did NOT need to know that." Yosuke wanted to be angry with Souji, he really did, but he just couldn't find it in himself to stay upset when Souji was smiling at him gently like that. So he smiled back.

"You should get some rest," Yosuke murmured a few minutes later. The dull infomercial was already putting him to sleep.

"Not tired," Souji lied, his arm draped over his eyes.

"Too bad. It's nappy time for baby Souji." Without waiting for Souji to retort, Yosuke repositioned himself so that he was laying down, somewhat on the couch but still practically on top of Souji, his head against his chest. If this wasn't gay, he didn't know what was.

"Guess I don't have a choice," Souji breathed, obviously not fighting against it.

"Mm-hmm," Yosuke tiredly answered back, wriggling closer against Souji's chest.

Souji fell asleep to the dull ache in his skull, and Yosuke to the familiar sound of Souji's heartbeat.

* * *

**It's not over yet hehe. Oh and about the whole Ai thing, in a roleplay with my sister, Ai is pretty much cockblocking Souji and Yosuke lol**

**Okay... time for bed now!**


	5. Love is the best medicine

**H-hey guys... sorry for disappearing for 3 and a half months. After I wrote chapter 4 of this story, my sis actually ending up wanting me to include smut, but I just couldn't figure out a way to fit that into this fic, so I ended up writing ****_3 rated M fics for her_**** instead, haha. I may or may not put them up on here (it's still really embarrassing ;w;). Anyway, this fic has been in the back of my mind all these months and it would just NOT leave me alone... so I finally wrote the ending! :D**

The following morning, Yosuke woke up incredibly tired and also feeling like he'd never slept that good in years. Either way, he didn't want to move from his comfortable spot on the couch.

And for a few blissful, sleepy moments, he just laid there, eyes closed.

"Good morning," he said out loud drowsily, not sure if Souji was even up or not (probably was, he always somehow managed to wake up before Yosuke, even if he set his alarm earlier). There was no response whatsoever, so Yosuke hugged his boyfriend tighter and slowly blinked open his eyes.

Yosuke stared. He was cuddling with a pillow.

"What the hell?!" He made sure to glare at it before chucking it across the room and curling in on himself angrily. He heard a cute little giggle from somewhere in the kitchen.

"Yosuke talks to pillows!" Nanako exclaimed, pouring herself a drink.

"Do not!" Yosuke whined, surprised that there was someone else's presence in the room. He grabbed a different pillow and put it over his head. "Where's my boyfr- um, do you know where your big bro is?"

"Mm-hmm! He's in his room. At least, I think so."

Yosuke thanked her and sat up, running a hand through his hair, although it didn't do much. He looked over at her fondly, and almost jumped out of his skin when he also saw her father, sitting there at the table, casually reading the newspaper.

"Oh, um, hey-"

"You know..." Dojima started, without looking up at him, "I'm surprised that Souji managed to get away without waking you up, with you laying all over him and all. Very impressive."

Yosuke shrunk back, his face burning. "W-well... I was just..." He laughed nervously and stood up, staring off into space. Contemplating whether to just leave or not.

"Thanks for taking care of him."

And although Dojima hadn't meant it in a teasing way, he couldn't help but notice how Yosuke ran up the stairs in embarrassment and slammed Souji's door shut on accident. Weird kid.

"Souji?" Yosuke stage-whispered, though it wasn't really necessary. His eyes locked onto the nest of blankets in the corner. "Souji!"

He made his way over and crouched down, touched Souji's shoulder and gently shook him. "Hey, you up?"

Souji let out a long, heaving breath and turned his head towards Yosuke. He looked so tired. Yosuke smiled at him.

"...S-sorry, but can I talk to you for a minute?"

Souji closed his eyes and pulled the blankets over his head.

"Aw, c'mon, don't do that! I just want to ask you something." Yosuke said, still smiling. Souji, meanwhile, completely froze up like a statue, and Yosuke figured that this meant that he was listening.

"Uh, you... last night?"

"Yosuke, I know that you are capable of forming full sentences." Yosuke cringed. Souji's voice sounded even more pitiful than before.

"Sorry. But... why did you leave me last night?" He thought for a moment. "I wasn't... suffocating you or anything, was I?"

Souji lowered the blankets and grabbed Yosuke's hand, rubbing his thumb against the palm absentmindedly. "Were you worried about me?" He whispered.

"Well... dude. It's not like you're going to die from a fever or something. But you didn't have to just leave all silently and junk, like some creature of the night! Don't you want me to worry?"

"It's nice," Souji agreed, softly.

"So are you going to answer me?"

"I didn't want to leave you. You were really warm," Yosuke noticed the slight blush on Souji's cheeks. Souji ran his other hand across his own face and sighed. "I didn't feel good-"

"Because you're sick, dummy."

"-Nanako woke me. She offered some pain killers and it's kind of impossible to say no to her so I had to get up and you were making this really cute face in your sleep so I left you there."

Yosuke felt his face warm up. "Y-yeah?"

"Yeah." Souji coughed painfully and hid his face against the pillow.

"That sounds like something I would do," Yosuke admitted.

Souji didn't say anything in return, just buried his face deeper into the pillow and breathed quietly. Yosuke watched him in silence, waiting for his boyfriend to fall asleep, despite him being pretty drowsy himself.

"Yosuke?" Souji called out suddenly, his voice weaker than he wanted it to be.

"Partner?"

"Just making sure you're still there."

Yosuke chuckled. "Why wouldn't I be? Are you feeling okay?"

"No."

Yosuke smiled sympathetically even though Souji couldn't see him and rubbed his back gently. "Can I get you anything?"

"I'm cold."

Yosuke eyed the pile of blankets on top of Souji in disbelief, but still offered to get another one for him anyway.

Souji shook his head and moved further away from Yosuke, out of his reach. The brunette raised his eyebrows.

"Souji?" He asked.

Souji patted the spot next to him. _Oh._

"Are you actually cold or do you just want to cuddle?"

"Both."

"That's so like you," Yosuke said, but he was lifting the blankets up anyway. He settled down next to Souji and immediately his boyfriend snuggled up to him, sighing happily.

"Much better."

Yosuke wrapped his arms around Souji's waist, and almost recoiled at the heat. "Dude, you're hot!"

"You too." Souji kissed his cheek.

"No, idiot! You're burning!"

"Like an oven, right?"

"Go to bed."

Yosuke tried to take his own advice. He closed his eyes and breathed evenly but he felt like he was going to melt with the mixed heat of the blankets and Souji's body. Souji couldn't even seem to breathe properly - he kept coughing and breathing heavily against Yosuke's chest. Yosuke felt like all he could do was just hold him and stare nervously at the wall. It was more than enough, Souji thought.

Yosuke's mind began to wander. To thinking back when when he first met Souji, to facing his Shadow, to this moment right now, to all the stupid periods in between. He thought about his time with Souji and the others until his eyelids began to droop. He hugged Souji tighter and whispered _I love you_, even though Souji was long since asleep.

The next day, Souji woke feeling better than he had in months.

* * *

***SHUDDER* Oh my gosh that was really bad. I'm sorry... I just didn't know what I wanted to do with this chapter... **


End file.
